Among the litany of exciting revelations about Star Wars: The Last Jedi today (April 14) was the confirmation of one new major character.
While the majority of the focus of Thursday's Star Wars Celebration panel was understandably on what's next for Finn, Rey, Luke Skywalker and Kylo Ren, director Rian Johnson also introduced the world to brand new cast member Kelly Marie Tran.
Related: 7 things we learned at Star Wars Celebration's The Last Jedi panel
Her role in the film has been kept top secret until now — so secret, in fact, that Kelly Marie couldn't tell her family she'd worked on a Star Wars movie until four months after she'd finished shooting!
"My character's name is Rose," she finally revealed during Thursday's Celebration panel. "She's part of the Resistance and she works in maintenance."
Director Rian Johnson described Rose as an unlikely hero, a trope that Star Wars has mined before with the likes of Han Solo, Jyn Erso, Rey and Finn.
What to Read Next
"She's not a soldier, she's not looking to be a hero and she gets pulled in a very big way into an adventure in this movie with Finn," Johnson explained.
This huge role in Star Wars: The Last Jedi is obviously a career breakthrough for Tran, who has previously starred in Amazon's adaptation of Gortimer Gibbon's Life on Normal Street and recurred briefly in the About a Boy TV series.
If her predecessor Daisy Ridley's skyrocketing career is anything to judge by, Tran will be working with Johnny Depp, Kenneth Branagh and Penélope Cruz in no time flat!
Star Wars: The Last Jedi opens in US and UK cinemas on December 15. Watch the first trailer below:
Want up-to-the-minute entertainment news and features? Just hit 'Like' on our Digital Spy Facebook page and 'Follow' on our @digitalspy Twitter account and you're all set.
Justin is a freelance entertainment journalist and writer. He first joined Digital Spy as a freelance entertainment reporter in 2010 and also worked as a sub-editor for the brand, serving as Night News Editor from 2016 to 2024. Over more than a decade, Justin has covered numerous major entertainment events from the US and has interviewed a wide-ranging group of public figures, from comedian Steve Coogan to icons from the Star Trek universe, cast members from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and reality stars from numerous Real Housewives cities and the Below Deck franchise. Justin has also been on the ground to cover major pop culture events like the Star Wars Celebration and the D23 Expo. He's written for titles across the Hearst network, plus the likes of CBR and Us Weekly.
Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
